A Different Kind of Shadow
by Hekateras
Summary: Set directly after Deadly Shadows: Garrett has defeated Gamall and prevented the third Dark Age, only to discover that the City is about to tumble into a fourth... It seems that his troubles will never end.


As stated in the summary, this story takes place directly after Deadly Shadows, so anyone who hasn't played the third game will receive rather severe spoilers as well as not understand many aspects I would be referring to. Another thing - I will not be explaining any of the tools Garrett uses, places he visits, or anything else based directly on the game/s, as I assume people who read this are familiar with Thief.

Hope you enjoy the first chapter:D Please review and let me know what you think.

1 - Consequences

The night was a misty one. Buildings stood, half-drowned in fog and shadow, with only the occasional flicker of firelight from a window to break the monotony of the grey-blue. Rays of moonlight lost themselves in the fog, creating puddles of milky illumination.

Fog was both blessing and curse for a thief. On one hand, the fog hindered vision and muffled sound, making it easier to move undetected. On the other hand, among the muffled sounds could well be the footsteps of a guard, and the bad visibility increased the odds of running straight into one. And finally, citizens tended to stay inside on nights like this, and breaking into an empty house is always easier than breaking into a house whose inhabitants are asleep, or worse, enjoying a cup of wine and a conversation by the fire.

A large patch of shadow, slightly more opaque than the rest, climbed a tall stack of crates and then seemed press itself into the cobblestone wall beside them. Like an insect, the dark figure crept upward, quickly reaching the rooftop of the small building and heaving itself over the edge.

Having reached the relative safety of the rooftops, the man knelt and retrieved a sheet of paper from the folds of his cloak. After studying it in the moonlight for several moments, he chuckled, his voice deep and ironic.

The paper was a 'wanted'-ad, with a portrait taking up most of the space. The upper half of the face pictured there was completely shrouded in the shadow of the deep hood. The jaw was clean-shaven, and in the place where the right eye should be, a dot of green twinkled out of the darkness. Underneath the portrait was 'WANTED' written big and bold. Underneath that, in smaller letters; 'Garrett. Wanted for burglary, robbery, pickpocketing, assault, intrusion, resisting arrest, injuring members of the City Watch ...'

_They could've saved space by just writing 'thievery'_, the man thought with amusement. _What's that? _'5,000 gold pieces reward'.

The man chuckled again. _Five thousand? Now that's impressive. One of these days I might just think about giving myself up._

Garrett tucked the sheet of paper back into his cloak. When he got home, he would hang this ad next to the older one opposite his bed, the one with the 1000 gold pieces award. With the lonely life that he led, it was nice to be reminded that there were still people out there thinking about him... as well as the different kinds of shackles and chains they would adorn him with should he chance to meet them, he added to himself with another chuckle.

He moved to the edge of the rooftop and gazed down at the street, finding himself having trouble penetrating the darkness and fog after standing up there in the moonlight. His own mechanical eye, twinkling green from the darkness of his hood, adjusted itself, the pupil widening up to a point unachievable for that of a flesh eye. Now taking up virtually the entire iris, the pupil let in enough of the dim light for Garrett to have an advantage in the darkness.

With advantages came disadvantages, though. Garrett knew that while his mechanical eye was more resistant to damage than his flesh one, it was still vulnerable when widened like that. Being careless while throwing a flashbomb with his pupil expanded could very well render him permanently blind, at least on his mechanical side.

After climbing back down into the fog, when his flesh eye had adjusted itself enough, Garrett had the pupil of his mechanical eye shrink back to a more normal size. No use taking risks like that.

Garrett strode silently through the streets, avoiding guards. There were more guards than usual. He grinned. He knew exactly why the number of guards, as well as the price on his head, had been raised.

He dashed into a narrow, twisted pass, and slowed as he entered the street on the other end. Two guards were patrolling the street while a third stood still on the far side, all three appearing quite nervous. The sentry kept glancing at the red hand printed on the wall with paint, in plain view.

Seeing the guards like this made Garrett smile again. The bluecoats knew that coming into Black Alley was an open invitation for trouble. He halted as he pondered his choices. Disposing of the guards was out of question, besides, it wasn't that difficult to sneak past them. Garrett hesitated. He was carrying a fat purse stuffed with enough gold to jingle if he moved quickly, which could easily be a giveaway. Besides, he was low on equipment.

Five minutes later he crept out of Thomas's shop, keeping an eye on the bluecoats. He hesitated again, then made for his fence's place several paces down the street. He knew it was risky, as it would not be completely unlike Heartless Perry to sell him out, but that was also one of the reasons he was willing to try it. With the newly-bought flashbombs weighing him down in a pleasant way, he considered himself standing a fair chance of escaping even if there was an ambush. If the bluecoats contacted Perry, they would've either beaten him up, or offered him a fair price. The first would probably be effective enough, as Garrett still recalled from the incident with Lady Elizabeth, but the price they offered him had to be pretty high. If Perry decided that keeping in business with Garrett would be more profitable than selling him out, he'd chose the more profitable. Now was just the time to find out how highly Perry thought of doing business with Garrett.

Flexing his fingers so that he could act quickly should the need arise, Garrett opened the door to the fence's shop several inches and slipped through. Still standing in the shadowed corner next to the door, he silently surveyed the room. Heartless Perry stood behind the counter with his back to the door, arranging something on the shelves lining the wall. All else was quiet. When Garrett was confident that there were at least no obvious signs of an ambush, he approached the counter, letting himself make as much noise on the wooden floor as was necessary not to startle the fence.

Perry still turned sharply, and actually appeared relieved upon seeing it was just Garrett.

"Expecting someone?" Garrett inquired quietly. Perry shrugged, then said,

"During the day they've been questionin' some of the beggars and the less reputable citizens they could get their greasy hands on. I figured it was likely they'd come for me..." He appeared nervous, which however wasn't altogether unusual for Perry. "Got somethin' to sell?"

For several moments Garrett gazed thoughtfully at the fat man, then nodded, both in response to the question and to his own thoughts. Where he lived wasn't that big of a secret, so it would be relatively easy for the City Watch to find someone to tip them off about it. It was fortunate Garrett had anticipated the possibility and had reached his home in time to move all items of importance to a hideout up in the rooftops, where he then spent the day while the guards were out and about searching for him.

Well then, at least it appeared that whoever tipped the bluecoats about where to find him, it hadn't been Perry. Besides, a fence wasn't expected to know much about his... customers.

Garrett retrieved his loot bag and couldn't help noticing Perry's eyes twinkle with greed. Garrett casually removed the contents of his bag and placed them on the counter: several silver candlesticks, a small golden statuette of a bird and a ruby necklace with a tiara and a bracelet to match. For the briefest instant, disappointment was evident on Perry's face as he noticed that the bag was now obviously empty and that no more loot would follow. Then the usual mask of a hardened shopkeeper reappeared.

Garrett suppressed a grin. The night before had been eventful - he had robbed the famous thief-proof Wieldstorm Museum, defeated the monster Gamall, and activated the Final Glyph, putting an end to all glyphs as well as the secret order of the Keepers.. After the adventures of the past week and especially last night, Garrett desired nothing more than a few days of relaxation and rest, but he knew there was no chance of that. Upon discovering the museum as a now treasure-free zone, the City Watch immediately assumed he was the one behind it. _A certain form of flattery, I guess, but one I could do without at the moment._

Perry had obviously hoped to be the one to get the goods stolen from the museum. _Too bad_, thought Garrett. He got the loot off his hands back when he was doing the little city-tour the night before. He had sold half the loot to Carmen in Old Quarter, and the other half to Bertha in Stonemarket. Which was more appropriate, anyway. Anything as valuable as trinkets from the museum would be far too easy to trace in a rat hole like South Quarter. The candlesticks and the bird were something Garrett had been lucky enough to stumble upon last night after the museum, and the former owner of the jewelry was a rich lady now taking a nap in one of the back alleys in South Quarter.

Garrett silently collected his gold and strode out the door, pausing to look around for guards. His cloak spread behind him as he made a quick and fairly noiseless dash for the shadows on the other side of the street. Then the master thief vanished into the night.


End file.
